I Agree, Sign me In

I have been diligently job hunting since June of last year when we had a staff meeting at the motorcycle shop where I worked. Gosh I loved that job, loved my co-workers, loved the location, loved the work itself. Some times in the busy season I was there until 9pm, just because there was stuff to do. Things changed last June. Our business was slowing down. Dirt bikes are an expensive hobby. Sure its a sub culture, but when the clients and customers are losing their jobs, they can't come in and buy stuff from us. We all agreed last June to work less hours rather than lay anyone off. Six month later, my hours had dwindled. I was the first to split. I couldn't justify the gas money it was costing me to get to work for only a few hours of work. I tried to transition from my position in shipping to upgrading our website, but the owners were feeling too strapped to pay for my work. That was a shame, because web traffic went down. I knew it was part and parcel of our outdated information and clunky search bar.

I signed up on Monster.com last June. For six months straight I applied to no less than two opportunities a day hoping for a call back. No one called. It occurred to me that employers might not even be looking at the site. With employment topping 10% in my neighborhood, it's probably faster for an employer to ask around the office if anyone knows anyone looking for a job. Every employer is afraid of hiring the "wrong" person. The person who won't work. The person who shows up late. The person who is rude, bad tempered or has no work ethic. That said, it's just common sense to hire a friend of a friend, or the friend of an employee. The employer is privy to a bit more insider information. Plus, they know going into it, the staff will get along.

I signed up for another web resume site, and another, at least four email me on a daily basis. They email me the same available job. Resume "rabbit" offered to post me on one hundred different sites for a mere $100. (A dollar a site sounds good, unless you don't have a hundred dollars.) Except those one hundred sites will probably all email me the same job. The same 8 to 10 dollar an hour job. Or those ads for doctors and nurses that I get on a daily basis. Yeah, yeah I should have stayed in school. I don't have the resume to be a doctor or a nurse.

After 8 months of no luck I finally broke down and signed up at the State of California website. It is a government website connected to Welfare, Aid to dependent families, and unemployment. Yup, public assistance here I come. I had hesitate for so long because the website demands my social security number, my birth date, my physical address. Like I don't have a fragile enough life, without having to worry about identity theft. Just another example of how poor people pay more dearly for everything. If I were rich, I could afford some privacy. As it is, with each site I add my information to, I have to click "I agree."

Greystone Electric asked me, if hired if I would take a drug test. Frankly I think taking a test at interview stage is sort of useless. Anyone can get clean for a day, if their intent is to deceive and manipulate. Anyone really worried ought to implement random drug testing. I once worked at the truck stop near my house, Flying J required drug testing at the interview stage. Meaning I had to drive 40 miles, paying for my own time and gas, before I was even hired to prove I was clean. In my opinion, I thought it was pretty obvious I was clean. After I was hired I noticed more than one of my co-workers appeared to be on meth. Welcome to the wonderful world of graveyard shift. It isn't a job I've gone back to.